Nobel laureates Ressa and Muratov launch global plan for freedom of information

Today's headlines: former President Rajapaksa returns to Sri Lanka; a well-known imam close to the Taliban among victims of mosque bombing in Herat province; Gazprom plans to open a new gas pipeline to China; In Iraq, protests against sectarianism return following clashes between Shiite factions; In Moscow, the Catholic on trial for posting the pope's prayer for peace on Facebook is acquitted.

PHILIPPINES

The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureates - Filipino journalist Maria Ressa and Russian Dmitry Muratov - have launched a plan to combat the information crisis and the business model of the web giants to "rebuild independent journalism" at a conference on freedom of expression in Oslo. Among the measures demanded are the obligation for digital companies to rigorously assess human rights risks in every country they intend to expand into, strict laws on the protection of personal data and the creation of a UN special envoy for the safety of journalists around the world.

SRI LANKA

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled abroad after the mass protests in July, has returned to the country. Rajapaksa has been staying in Thailand in recent weeks on a temporary visa. Some ministers met him at the airport. Millions of Sri Lankans blame his government for the country's worst ever economic crisis.

CHINA-RUSSIA

Russia's Gazprom is planning to open a new 10 billion cubic metre per year gas pipeline to China from the Siberian Far East on the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok line. The announcement was made by Gazprom Chairman Aleksej Miller, according to whom 'the increase in gas consumption in China over the next 20 years will be 40%'.

AFGHANISTAN

A well-known imam linked to the Taliban, Mawlawi Mujeeb Rahman Ansari, is among the 18 victims of yesterday's attack on the mosque in Guzargah, Herat Province. The explosion occurred during Friday prayers inside the mosque and was caused by a suicide attack.

IRAQ

Infuriated by the months-long political crisis, which has seen deadly clashes between rival Shia groups in recent days, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets in Baghdad yesterday recalling the 2019 protests against sectarianism: non-partisan demonstrators took to Al-Nusoor Square, brandishing banners and Iraqi flags to call for complete political renewal.

RUSSIA

The judge of the Zjuzino court has overturned the conviction of Moscow's Catholic municipal deputy Konstantin Jankauskas, guilty of spreading Pope Francis' Marian prayer for peace, after hearing the testimony of the vicar general of the Moscow diocese, Mgr Kirill Gorbunov, who told the court the reasons for the consecration.

KAZAKHSTAN

The President of Kazakhstan, Tokaev, appealed to the nation in a speech lasting over an hour, proposing to organise early elections for the president and parliament by 2023 to begin a "restructuring of the country" and its institutions and open a new path of economic and social development, more solidarity and democracy. 

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